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POLITICO 44

Never a soldier himself, but suddenly their commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama wanted to learn the job from the ground up.

Including the salute.

Under the guidance of an expert, aides say Obama privately repeated his salute over and over again until he got it down. In a testament to how sensitive the White House is about the commander in chief practicing this basic military gesture, aides would not say who taught Obama how to salute. But every time he uses it, Obama is trying to convey an insider’s respect for the armed forces without saying a word.

“That attention to detail, that focus on the outward manifestation of what we expect, is compelling,” said retired Gen. Paul Eaton, who advised Obama during the presidential campaign. “Whoever worked with him on that did a pretty good job.”

Obama’s evolution as commander-in-chief during his first year in office largely involved proving that he was up to the job – that a 48-year-old former law professor and one-term U.S. senator who campaigned on ending the Iraq war had the resolve to lead the military through some of its toughest years in recent history.

Obama recently came under fire for his initial handling of the Christmas Day terror plot but his approval ratings on terrorism and foreign policy issues actually outpace his rankings on the domestic policy at the heart of his presidency, the economy and health care, according to the latest USA Today/Gallup poll. A war-weary public did not welcome his decision to add 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, even though it won him praise from Republicans, but he's received good marks for announcing a draw-down in Iraq.

From keeping on Republican Robert Gates as Defense Secretary to bringing the fist bump to the Naval Academy graduation, Obama has spent considerable time courting the trust of service members from the lowest to highest levels of command and assimilating into his role as head of the military, an institution that is historically skeptical of Democrats.

Obama’s challenge coming into the job was not that he didn’t have experience in the military in terms of making decisions, said Henry William Brands, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

“The problem, to some extent, is selling those decisions,” Brands said. “Because he doesn’t have that military background, he’s seen as less credible on military issues.”

The most visible appearances of Obama as commander in chief are the speeches he’s given at military bases, the visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day and the image of him saluting a flag-draped coffin at Dover Air Force Base.

But much more goes on behind closed doors. When Obama visits a military hospital, aides said, he sits quietly as mothers cry on his shoulder, or he puts on surgical scrubs to pray at the bedside of an unconscious Marine whose injuries are so severe it appears he won’t make it through the week.

Is this a joke? But he's received good marks for announcing a draw-down in Iraq.

Let me help you libs out, he was against the surge as was General Joe Blow. If we, the US followed either one of these two dopes recommended course, there would be no withdrawal right now in Iraq. So keep practicing your salute you clueless ex Acorn lawyer and PS the military despises you.

Today, in the political environment of the United States of America, you have two options. Theocratic, police state war hawks or cradle to grave welfare state, borderline Marxists who say they are anti-war but really aren’t. I’ll let you guess which party is which. Something is wrong, and it’s growing painfully obvious what that problem is. There is no small government party.

So how do we solve this problem? Like any political problem the answer is organization. But whom do we organize? There is no clear-cut group of people on this issue. In fact, it’s a very diverse group who need to set aside petty differences and focus on common goals. O.K., but who are these people? First answer a simple question. Do you have an ideology that involves your version of the perfect all-powerful government? No? Me neither. Yes? Stop reading this and finish building your alter to Dick Cheney or Nancy Palosi. I assume that there are a great many people who do not want to see an all-powerful government. I also assume that if you put all these people in one place that you would look around and see a weird blend of every type of person you could possibly imagine. In fact, I think you would see gun-toting militiamen standing right next to pot smoking hippies. You would see liberals and conservatives alike putting aside their differences for one common goal. Smaller government. I’m not asking you to go bowling afterwards or anything, but I see plenty of small government people on both sides. I see anti war, pro-marijuana, pro-choice, anti-censorship pro-freedom of expression, separation of church and state, ACLU small government liberals on the left. I also see pro-second amendment gun owning, pro-freedom of religion, pro-lower taxes, anti-entitlement, pro-private sector small government conservatives on the right. Here’s an idea. Why don’t you guys get together and support all those freedoms and then go home and do what you please afterwards. You don’t have to like the people you’re standing besides, but if you fight together you’ll both win. I’m sick to death of people quoting our founding fathers to build arguments for expanding government. Have those people every actually read a history book? How many founding fathers do you recall saying, “We should really declare independence because we need a bigger more powerful government”. They didn’t. In fact that’s the exact opposite of what they said. If you think it’s about helping the poor, it’s not. Our government is keeping our low income citizens in a vicious cycle of poverty by imprisoning drug addicts and then paying them a bare minimum free salary to keep them both complacent and poor. If you think it’s about big business, it’s not. Our government is purposely making these businesses “to big to fail” by financially supporting the ones they choose and then bailing them out when they fail. Is this about gay marriage? It shouldn't be. How on earth is it constitutional for the government to require me to get a government license to perform what I consider to be a religious ceremony? The word "marriage" should be taken out of government all together for gays and straights alike. That word should be reserved for whatever private belief you may or may not have. If you think it’s about Christianity it’s not. You are Constitutionally entitled to believe whatever you want to believe and government shouldn’t be able to change that. Who cares what someone else believes? If you think it’s about security, it’s not. Everyone is for reasonable security, but we are playing into the hands of extremists when we start giving up our liberty in exchange for being safer.

The moral of the story is that we need to come together in an odd marriage of people who enjoy liberty. We may very well think that the people we are aligning ourselves with are strange, and we’d all be right. But this is America, and it’s our God given right to be as strange as we want to be.

Well, that's a good thing. We don't hate President Obama. We dislike his lefty policies that are destroying our nation.....but for him to make an effort to learning how to salute the troops is a good thing. I'd say learning that task sould take about 3 minutes or so. What has he done in one full year? That's the question.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops that we are not just air raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.

Yep, our military just air raids villages and mindlessly kills civilians. The moron doesn't now we have smart bombs.

Actually his salute is pathetic and he is still weak on matters of national defense. All he does is give lip service and is always looking for a way out of any of the tough situations. He is coddling the captured terrorist, making it tough on our soldiers in the was zone, and will never have the confidence of most of the people.

Wow. For the first time in his presidency today the gallup approval poll was 47% approve 47% disaprove. That's evolution I guess. Obama has evolved into George W Bush. More of the same. Another big government politician.

Ron Paul should be the next fed chairman. I hope Ron Paul runs in 2012. I think he would have a shot this time.

I hate to tell you this, but every time a military family member of mine sees obama salute he has to laugh. He says obama's salute is all wrong and it just looks like he is playing soldier. Before you go praising obama regarding his salute you should ask the men and women of the armed forces what they think of it. I'm sure their opinions would differ from yours. Phony salute from a phony president.

I hate to tell you this, but every time a military family member of mine sees obama salute he has to laugh. He says obama's salute is all wrong and it just looks like he is playing soldier. Before you go praising obama regarding his salute you should ask the men and women of the armed forces what they think of it. I'm sure their opinions would differ from yours. Phony salute from a phony president.